First

It happens every time. The first time we were going out of town without Dylan, he got his first fever ever. This time? His first ear infections. That's right, there is an S on that. Poor little fella has one in both ears. Luckily, with the help of modern medicine, he is on the mend and hopefully will be his usual self with Grandma and Grandpa this weekend!

He also starts Mother's Day out next week, so we need to get him in tip top shape!

Peeves

There are very few things that Adam and I don't agree on, but one thing we do is about our kids bikes. Now you might be saying, that's a silly thing to agree on. We agree that our kids will lose bike privileges if they leave them in the middle of the sidewalk. Almost every day when we go on a walk, there is a house a few doors down that ALWAYS, and I mean always people, has a bike or two laying in the middle of the sidewalk. Since we have a stroller with us, we have to run in their grass with it. Which I also hate.

When we were little, sure we left our bikes out. I vividly remember one instance when my mom and dad had told my sister and me not to leave them in the street when we went into a friends house. Of course, Erin and I did and when we came out they were gone. We freaked. My parents were so angry, but little did we know that they had been the ones to take them off the street. Proving a point I guess. Point taken I'm sure. We never had our bikes stolen after that.

So I guess that even though it will make us " hypocrites" we will not allow our children to leave things on the sidewalk. Sure, leave them outside, whatever. But not in the middle of the sidewalk for crying out loud!

Handy Man

I usually always write blogs about the tiny men in my life. Today's blog is dedicated to the grown up one in my life. My husband. As most of you know, Adam and I have been together for a veryyy long time. Since we were 15. So to say we know pretty much everything about each other is probably an understatement. Though, when we got married and bought our first house in Philly, I learned something. He is very handy. Who would have thought it? Not me. I can't think of how many times I've heard him say, " I can make that." Do you know how annoying that phrase is when you just want a simple bookshelf? Well, a bookshelf he made. Do you know how long it took him to make said bookshelf? MONTHS. Cutting wood, sanding wood, putting together wood. It took months, did it look nice? Custom made? Sure. But it took forever. That is when we learned we have to add in his time as well to see if it would be cheaper to " Just make that."

Since moving into our new house, he has changed out a few light fixtures, added a ceiling fan to our bedroom, hung a media room projector, made a built in for Graham's nursery, and built a bench. The bench was his "nesting" project I think. He worked for a few hours a night for a week straight making this bench. That was after he did required research on bench building, as to have it be comfy for his short wife!:) He designed it, and built it, and once it gets to be cooler, I'm sure we will sit on it!

I'm lucky to have a handy man in my house. Though with all the things I make him do, he might wish he wasn't!

BFF

Have you even known anyone who have been friends since before they could remember? Now I'm not talking about those people who say they have known each other forever, when in reality it's only been 15 years. I'm talking friends since birth? I'm excited to say that my kiddo's might be that lucky. Recently, one of my best friends, Maid of honor, and Cosmo lady twin, Becca and her family moved back to Dallas. Not only did they move to Dallas, they moved into our neighborhood! Adam went to elementary school with Becca, and I've known her, through soccer, since we were in the 4th grade. Here is the kicker. She has a son, Carson, that is 4 months older than Dylan, and we are both due with our second boys within 6 weeks of each other.

It's nice having a built in best friend for Dylan. Sure, Dylan will make friends in school, but he will always have Carson as kind of like a security blanket. They will be in the same grade, as will Graham and Carson's little brother. We've had many play dates since their arrival in Dallas, they are finally getting used to each other. When Carson left the other night, they gave each other a hugs, Dylan then body slammed Carson into the ground and made him cry. It was hilarious, and also sad, because never again in his life will that happen. Dylan just doesn't have the football gene's that Carson does.

The great thing about toddlers being together, they entertain each other. Carson was over the other day and I brought out the crayons. I didn't hear a thing from either of them for at least 30 minuets. Then they got restless and started coloring on things IE: The wall, blueberry, table, chairs, really anything. Thank goodness for washable colors! They had a great time together though, and I'm looking forward to many more dates with them and their new little brothers!

Rehomed

Last year, when Mom died, some of you might remember that we got stuck with her animals. I say stuck, because when you already have 2 dogs, a cat and a 5 month old, any additions are a little much. I wish that she had had a 5 pound dog, instead of a 60 pound horse, who had never been around kiddos. We knew that we couldn't keep Gator forever. Which was hard on me, because whenever Mom would have the " If anything ever happens to me" speech with me, she ALWAYS asked me to make sure to take care of Gator. It was an adjustment at first, but we got used to it. Though he never got used to Dylan.
Once Dylan got more mobile, and curious of his surroundings, we really noticed that Gator had to go. He was just too jumpy around him, and well toddlers don't understand that you can't touch a dog when he isn't looking at you. I had asked around if anyone knew anyone who wanted a fully grown dog. Wouldn't you know, he wasn't too marketable. Several months ago, Gator finally bit Dylan, that was the last straw. He went up on Craigslist. Again, no one wanted a huge dog that isn't good with kids. I knew we needed to find him a home before Graham came. The sooner the better. I knew I couldn't put him in a shelter, no one would adopt him, he would be put down. I had enough on my conscious just getting rid of him. But I knew that Mom wouldn't have wanted her dog to be biting her grandbaby that she loved so much. Finally two weeks ago, I got a hit on craigslist. It was a woman who ran a "rescue" I say that word loosely. Upon loading Gator up an making an hour drive to Terrell, we came to the conclusion she was probably just an animal hoarder. It was horrible. I could never have let the sweet dog that we had come to love live with her. I wanted a good life for him.

Suzan, Adam's mom, after getting news that we couldn't leave him with her, sent out an email to her email list. Within days, we had someone else who wanted to meet him. Adam spoke with her on the phone. Now, if you know my husband, he doesn't really say anything bad about people. But he told me this sounded very promising and that she was just so nice. We made a plan to take Gator to meet her and her family on Saturday. I loved the idea that she had 2 acres of land, and 4 children, the youngest being ten. So old enough to know not to sneak up on a dog.

We arrive, her family meets us outside. Gator takes to them instantly. She truly was one of the nicest people I've met. They were all just so in awe with Gator, and Dylan of course. They threw the ball as far as they could and he would willingly go fetch it. They loved him. He loved them. It couldn't have been more perfect. I was so happy. Happy that I could give away the last piece that truly reminded me of my mother, and not feel guilty. He was going to a great family. The woman, she is a runner, so he was going to get to go out on runs every morning. It was perfect. I told her to send me pictures, and that I would probably check in every month to see how he was doing.

Not three hours later did we get a text with a picture of him sprawled on their floor, making himself at home. It made my heart happy. Then, they told us they changed his name to Boomer, because they are Sooner Fans!:) Gator to Boomer. Two quality dog names! So we are back to two dogs. Life is much more calm. You don't realize how many dogs three is until you go back to two. The cat is also happy he is gone, she has been all over the place this week.

Monday Menu

Sunday: Homemade cream of Mushroom soup and steak sandwiches.

The rest are in no particular order!

Turkey Burgers with Zucchini, sweet potato fries

Chicken Parm, Salad

Meatloaf, mashed potato, roasted eggplant

Creamy Chicken Taquitos, black beans and corn

Countdown

8 weeks to go. Where has time gone? As we draw closer and closer to Graham's sweet arrival. I get more excited and more terrified at the same time. I wonder how on earth could I possibly love this baby as much as I love Dylan.? I know every new mom wonders that, and I'm not alone, but it still has me worried. Dylan has been my life for the last almost two years. Sometimes I look at him and get tears in my eyes because he is just so sweet, and he won't have my full attention anymore, he'll be too young to understand why mommy can't hold him right now. I know once they are both older they will get to play together and that will melt my heart, it is just those first few months I worry about.

I worry about how I will make time to do the things with Dylan that we currently do, story time, pump it up, random Target outings just to get out of the house, trips to the park, how on earth will I do those things with a newborn? I know it can and will be done, but it makes me tired just thinking about it.

Luckily for me, Dylan likes to share, so I will probably have to be very vigilant that he isn't shoving goldfish in his baby brothers mouth, or coloring on him with colors.

I am most excited to see them together. They will play, be rowdy and wild. They will fight, no doubt, but they will be buddies who go explore. I am, like I said incredibly excited to welcome baby boy Graham into this world, though at the same time, I know our world as we know it will change, once again, for the better. There is and will be until the day he arrives, the though in the back of my mind, oh man, what did we do?

This last picture is 32 weeks with Dylan for comparison, one of the only ones I've got!:)

Twenty

I wrote this post a week ago, when he actually turned 20 months but forgot to post it. So here you are!

Twenty months. How in the world is my baby boy 20 months old? He is much closer to being 2 than 1. I tell Adam almost every day, it feels like he should be older some days, but then other day's it feels like we just brought him home. He is such a wild little thing. Everyday he shows us more of his personality. He is such a happy little boy. He is funny. He is energetic. But best of all, he is a sweet boy. He loves to share, one of his favorite things is to take dog food from the bowl and hand feed the dogs. It is the highlight of his day. He shares his toys with his friends, and even strangers in the grocery store. He will hand people his food. I fear that he will be the kid with no toys or food because he gives them all away.

Dylan is going to be a great big brother. He loves to give kisses and to blow kisses. He is gentle but at the same time, a maniac. He will spin in circles until he is so dizzy that he can't stand up. He will run away from us while eating, just so we chase him and force feed him. He will not eat anything but yogurt for days on end, then he will eat anything and everything we offer him. He will go into these moods where he will just run around the house giggling for no reason. He loves to be chased, as well as to chase. Putting clothes on him to leave the house... HAHA he thinks it's a game.

That Mom.

"Welcome to the dark side" That's what some have told me.

As soon as we knew Graham was on his way, we knew we needed a new mode of transportation. Sure, I drove an SUV, but it was a small on. Adam had a 4 door sedan, that was hard enough to get Dylan in and out of. We began thinking. For a few years I had been wanting a Murano, you know which one that is right? They have flooded the streets, because everyone else wanted one too! I still love the look, but I realized they were really that much larger than my Lexus.

I know some of you might be thinking, well we fit 2 car seats in my civic or whatnot. But fitting was not the problem, it was practicality. We still rear face Dylan, and a rear facing Britax car seat takes up a LOT of room. I wanted to be able to fit Graham in the center, because they say that is best, so it was going to be tight. Also, by the time Graham needs a convertible, Dylan will STILL be rear facing, so then we will have 2 rear seats! Anyway, I got to thinking. What car would be easy to get 2 kiddo's in and out of, doesn't eat gas like it's going out of style, and well will last us through ANOTHER kiddo? Enter...

The Man Van, the Shaggin' Wagon, whatever you want to call it. Folks, let me tell you. Mini Van's are not what they once were. The new vans are sleek and come stock full of convenient features, like a cooler in the dash, a back up camera, a DVD player,and reclining back seats. So I am proud to say that I am now that mom. The Mini Van Momma. While I have only had my van for 3 days. I LOVE IT. The only thing I can say is that the doors, they open themselves.

I ended up going with a 2011 Honda Odyssey. We fought hard for the price. Do you know how hard these vans are to come by? The # 1 selling dealership in Texas only had ONE with a DVD player in it. How crazy is that? Though I am excited about the free oil changes and free car washes. I have no excuse to have a dirty car now! All in all, we were at David McDavid for about 5.5 hours. I think they were ready to see us leave, we were giving them a run for their money in the negotiation. Though I did have to settle on a black van, I really wanted a steel gray one, I am very happy with it. As long as I keep it clean, it's a beautiful color. It has little multicolored sparkles in it!:)

Now that buying a car is done, it's time for operation nursery completion. We've just got to hang Dylan's art work, as well as the name letters. So hopefully, you'll get a new nursery sneak peek tomorrow, or lets be honest, maybe by next week!

Returning

Alright, finally I'll let you know what you have all been sitting on the edge of your seats for. The return flight from Vail. Adam had the idea to check the car seat at the gate this time and let Dylan just sit in the seat so he could move around. With a little hesitation, I did it. We tried to strap in in between us, but the little kid is just so skinny that he could slip down and get out of the belt. So they made us hold me. I was in the window seat, so we let him look out. Also, he didn't have ANY water up until now. We dehydrated him if you will. So as we were taking off, he was occupied with chicken nuggets and water. Lucky guy!

He was 100% better on this flight. We colored, watched Baby Einstein and Mickey Mouse, colored more, and flirted with the girl behind us. He was a happy boy. That is when we decided that we would most likely not be going on the trip with Baby Graham and Dylan in March. Even though Dylan was great on the return flight, we were both exhausted, and figured if we wanted a vacation we could take the boys somewhere close like Sea World or something:)

Monday Menu

This week's menu was kind of on the fly. We went to the store yesterday and kind of picked what we wanted while we were there! So here it goes.

Last night we had homemade pizza with pesto and chicken

Spinach Stuffed Turkey Burgers with green beans

Ribs, with potato salad and beans

spaghetti ( with hopefully enough homemade sauce to freeze some extra)

I can't remember anything else. So that must be it. I have a hard time remembering things these days!:)